Issue - meetings

Report ED16027

The Chairman reported that in the 2016/17 municipal year there would be a new structure for the Committee.  The Committee would become the Education Select Committee with Portfolio Holder decisions being dealt with outside of the formal meetings.  Portfolio Holder decisions would be circulated to all Members by email prior to the decision being taken, once circulated decisions could be referred to Committee for further debate if necessary, either at a scheduled meeting of the Education Select Committee or an Executive and Resources PDS Committee meeting.   After decisions had been taken by the Portfolio Holder the usual ‘call-in’ rules would apply.

The Portfolio Holder would continue to provide an update to every meeting.

The Committee would consider topics at each meeting.  It was envisaged that at each meeting there would be a Short Item (a brief topic for the Committee to consider within a half an hour time slot) followed by the  Substantive Item (the main focus of the meeting) comprising evidence gathering, witness sessions etc., being brought an end with a summary by the Chairman.  Following the meeting the Chairman would produce a report outlining the Committee’s findings and this would be circulated to all Members by email.  The report could then be forwarded to Full Council for further debate if necessary.

For the first meeting in July 2016 it was suggested that the Short Item would be an ‘Overview of the Issues Affecting the Department’.  Suggestions for topics for future meetings included:

The Changing Education Landscape

Youth Offending Service

Identifying and Tackling School Under Performance

Troubled Families Initiative

Children’s Centres

Adult Education Outcomes

Helping Hard to Reach Group

Elective Home Education

Members were asked to forward their suggestions for further topics for consideration.

RESOLVED: That the Work Programme and the new structure for the Committee in 2016/17 be noted.